A rollicking space adventure with a lot of heart

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn’t expecting much. The patched-up ship has seen better days, but it offers her everything she could possibly want: a spot to call home, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and some distance from her past.

And nothing could be further from what she’s known than the crew of the Wayfarer.

From Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the chatty engineers who keep the ship running, to the noble captain Ashby, life aboard is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. That is until the crew is offered the job of a lifetime tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet. Sure, they’ll earn enough money to live comfortably for years, but risking her life wasn’t part of the job description.

The journey through the galaxy is full of excitement, adventure, and mishaps for the Wayfarer team. And along the way, Rosemary comes to realize that a crew is a family, and that family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe… as long as you actually like them.

My Review:

Let me start off by saying this book is awesome. It is also so what I needed in my life right now reading-wise. This was the exact sort of book I was looking for. A science fiction character-driven novel with subtle social commentary. Ahhh, like putting on a warm fuzzy sweater on a chilly morning.

There is was so much that was great about this book that I’m not quite sure where to begin. I want to share it all with you, spoiler free, of course. Let’s start with what I enjoyed most about this story. The characters. Hands down the diversity and personality of characters in this book were out of this world (ha, ha, space pun). We have a bit of everything in this book same-sex relationships, aliens that are not carbon copies of humans, the excentric off-the-wall-wondering-if-she-is-crazy-but-want-them-as-your-BFF character, the sour-puss, and so much more. The diversity of character and species is reason enough to read this book. I loved them all and enjoyed getting to know them and their backgrounds.

The next aspect of this story that worked for me is that it was a space opera. If you are looking for a dry technical heavily political serious piece look elsewhere, however. While this is a space opera science fiction is much more a character-driven story. We get some science but nothing too technical. It felt a bit like an extended Star Trek mission but better. The species and space had more diversity and didn’t feel like they were all based on humanity and Earth only tweaked. The author did an excellent job of putting thought into creating these new worlds and cultures. You can also tell she worked hard to make them feel authentic too.

Then there is the subtle social commentary. Oh, how I love a book that makes us take a good hard look at our society and question just what the hell are we doing. Why do we have the problems, political and social, that we have? Most of all I love a story that shows us another way.

This was a fantastic story, not about a crew on the ship Wayfarer but about a family. A group of vastly different ‘people’ that came together and built a family. Where everyone has their role and are needed to be complete. I absolutely loved this story!